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Television licensing in New Cambria
In New Cambria, a television license is required for any home or business at which there is a television set. As of 1 April 2010, the annual license fee is ₤173. Revenue is collected by New Cambria Post, the country's postal service. The bulk of the fee is used to fund New Cambria Public Broadcasting (NCPB), the public service broadcaster. The license must be paid for any premises that has any equipment that can potentially decode TV signals, even those that are not NCPB's. The license is free to anyone over the age of 70, some over 65, some social welfare recipients, and the blind. The fee for the licenses of such beneficiaries is paid for by the state. Collection and Evasion New Cambria Post is responsible for collection of the license fee and commencement of prosecution proceedings in cases of non-payment. Licenses can be purchased and renewed at post offices, either in person or by post, or by using a credit or debit card via call centre or the Internet. New Cambria Post receives commission to cover the cost of its collection service. The Post maintains a database of addresses and uses this to inspect suspected cases of non-payment. Inspectors, who are New Cambria Post employees, visit the premises to verify if TV receiving equipment is present. If speedy payment of the license is not made following an inspection, court proceedings are commenced by The Post. In 2004, only 15% of detected evaders were summonsed for prosecution, and only about one-fourth of those cases resulted in fines. In 2006, as part of a crackdown in license-fee evasion, the fines were raised from ₤150 to ₤1,000 for failing to purchase a license, and inspectors were required to follow up with evaders within 90 days. By 2008, the rate of license-fee evaders was estimated at 7%, down from 13% in 2004. Disbursement Television license fees made up approximately one-half of NCPB's revenue. The bulk of the rest comes from broadcasting commercials on its radio and television stations. NCPB also sells programming to other broadcasters. Some NCPB services, such the Zone radio channel, the programme guide NCWeek and the broadcaster's official website, operate on an entirely commercial basis. The license fee does not entirely go to NCPB. Expenses first deducted include the costs of collection, paid to New Cambria Post, and funding for the New Cambria Broadcasting Commission (NCBC) and the Broadcasting Complaints Authority (BCA). Criticism The license fee concept is often criticised for being outdated in a world with an increasing variety of television channels and audio-visual technologies. Commercial television companies have alleged that NCPB unfairly uses the license fee revenue to outbid them for broadcast rights to foreign films, television series and sporting events, though NCPB denies this. The license is also condemned as a regressive tax, where the majority of prosecutions are of people on low incomes. The high cost of collected is presented as inefficient, and license inspectors' calling to people's doors is seen as intrusive. The low rate of prosecution of non-payers was heavily criticised in the months leading up to the 2006 crackdown. Alternative funding methods have been suggested, such as direct funding from income taxes or restructuring the fee into monthly electricity bulls. A license is required per address, rather than per person or per television set. It has been considered unfair that the same fee amount applies to a single private dwelling as to a large commercial address, such as a hotel or privately-owned business park. The 2006 crackdown resulted in many fines for unlicensed television sets in holiday homes and provoked much public upset. Since, proposals for a reduced-rate license for seldom-occupied premises have been raised, but none has received much support. NCPB journalists largely support the existence of the license, and lobby for greater increases in the fee, as being a revenue stream independence of the government and thus guaranteeing freedom from political influence and associated editorial bias. The opposite claim has also been made: that an annual review of the license fee by the Government leaves NCPB liable to political pressure. A survey of public attitudes to public broadcasting were carried out in 2007. The associated opinion poll asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement, "Public Broadcasting should be financed by the license fee." Of the 5,884 respondents, 61% responded "agree" and 27% responded "disagree." History Television licenses were introduced in New Cambria in 1963. Radio licenses, abolished in 1970, had been introduced by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1930, prior to New Cambria becoming a republic. Although before 1963 there was no television license as such, a television set fell under the definition of a "wireless receiver." Thus, someone possessing a television but no radio would have needed a wireless license at the same fee as someone with a radio. Conversely, between 1963 and 1970, the possessor of a television license did not need an additional radio license. In 1981, members of Parti égalité, New Cambria's Francophone activist party, began campaigning more French-language television programming. They adopted tactics learned from Welsh- and Irish-language activists, including non-payment of the television license, and non-payment of fines imposed for not having a license. In the early 1990s, Gareth Kelly went to prison for non-payment of his TV license, which he refused to pay in protest of the lack of homegown programming on NCPB. Privately-owned commercial radio and television broadcasting slowly crept into New Cambria throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984, the government agreed to cap NCPB's advertising income. The cap was lifted in 1991, and the license fee was increased for the first time in 12 years in 1992. The definition of television in the original licensing legislation presumed a wireless radio broadcast receiver, and it is unclear whether it extends to computers, Internet devices, 3G mobile phones or other new technologies. In August 2008, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural resources proposed modernizing the definition to include such advancements. In December 2009, however, the Assembly of Deputies resolved that the introduction of additional forms of license fee collection, in that regard, could negatively impact the business sector. License fee Increases in the license fee have often been irregular; the fee was increased six times between 1970 and 1980, and only twice between 1980 and 2001. From 1970 until 2001, black-and-white television sets qualified for a reduced fee. Since 2004, the fee is usually adjusted every other year. In recent years, the increases have been index-based. Category:New Cambria